Palmer ties for fifth, advances

Monday

Aug 30, 2010 at 4:38 AM

Staff and wire reports

PARAMUS, N.J. - Amarillo native Ryan Palmer shot a final-round 69 on Sunday and wound up in a four-way tie for fifth in The Barclays, three strokes out.

Palmer finished at 9-under 275 on the Ridgewood Country Club course and earned $263,438, but more importantly, the 481 FedExCup points he earned helped him advance to the second round of the PGA Tour playoffs. He rose from 23rd to 13th in the standings and will be among the 100 players in the Deutsche Bank Championship this week near Boston.

The Barclays was Martin Laird's to win, but he three-putted from 25 feet on the 18th, fell into a tie with Matt Kuchar, and Kuchar won with a birdie on the first playoff hole.

Kuchar and Laird finished 72 holes at 12-under 272. The 2,500 FedExCup points that came with the victory pushed Kuchar to the top of the standings and put him in the running for the $10 million prize. And his third career win is likely to move him to a career-best No. 10 in the world ranking.

"Even if I had shut it down without a win, I would have felt it was a great year," Kuchar said. "To win, it's an incredible year."

Laird started the day with a three-stroke lead, but Kuchar, a Ryder Cup team member, shot a 5-under 66 and made up five strokes. Steve Stricker also closed with a 66 and tied Kevin Streelman for third at 10-under.

The only consolation for Laird was being safe through next month in the playoffs. He was at No. 95, but his runner-up finish put him at No. 3 and virtually guarantees he'll be among the top 30 at the Tour Championship.

"Obviously, not the finish I was looking for," Laird said. "But I'm very proud of the way I played today.''

Palmer played the front nine in 1-over with two bogeys, but he finished strong, with birdies on three of his final five holes.

Joining Palmer at 9-under were Rory Sabbatini, Jason Day and Vaughn Taylor. They finished ahead of Tiger Woods, who bounced back from two rounds over par with a 67 that left him at 7-under.

Woods, who vaulted from 112th to 65th in the Cup standings, was encouraged by his play.

"I haven't won all year," Woods said. "But this is a week that I was very close. I felt that if I would have putted better for all four days, I would have been right there. Looking forward to next week."

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